60 yard long 2″ blue masking tape. Medium adhesive blue colored tape designed to be used on smooth or lightly textured surfaces. The versatile tape removes easily without leaving sticky residue adhesive behind.

2″ Blue Masking Tape Features:

• Ultraviolet and sunlight resistant
• Ideal for masking smooth surfaces
• Multi-use tape
• Perfect for protecting vehicle paint during headlight restoration
• Leaves behind no sticky residue

Use the low adhesion level masking tape to mask vehicles before performing a headlight restoration.

From the Archives

Protecting the Paint for Headlight Restoration

Restoring headlights is a relatively quick and easy process, or it would be if the time it takes to prep the vehicle before beginning the job and cleaning up afterwards. While tedious and time-consuming, it is essential to properly protect, not only the vehicle you are working on, but any other vehicles that are in proximity.

In our shop we have experimented with a number of different products and processes. Currently, we cover the entire engine compartment with a heavy canvas tarp, use a 2″ blue clean removing painter’s masking tape to mask around the headlights, and use a masking film to cover some or all of the rest of the vehicle. Typically, we use a pre taped masking film to cover the front half of the vehicle, but sometimes it is just as easy to cover the entire vehicle with a disposable drop cloth. If it is determined that the hood should be up a canvas tarp is used for the engine compartment as the engine is often still hot when we begin the headlight restoration process and customers may not appreciate a bunch of melted plastic all over their engine. Imagine that!

While many customers would not be concerned or even notice a bit of dust or a few drops of polish, it is always our goal to leave the customer’s vehicle in better condition than when we found it. Anything less is unprofessional in my opinion.

Vehicle Protection

Protecting the vehicle’s paint throughout the sanding and polishing process should be a high priority for every headlight restoration technician and spending a bit of extra time up front simplifies the cleanup process after the job is complete. In most cases, we find covering the fenders, front doors and roof of the vehicle provides adequate protection. If the vehicle is perfectly clean before the restoration we will also cover the windscreen. However, if the windscreen is dirty, we will leave it uncovered and clean it thoroughly after the restoration.

Even more important is the careful masking around the headlights. We recommend using two layers of a high-quality painter’s tape to avoid damage to the plastic surrounding the headlight.  Protects against the sanding disk coming into contact with the lens any time during the restoration process. It’s not foolproof but if using a random orbit tool it definitely minimizes the chance…. Continue Reading